James Polk.
Publié le 10/05/2013
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1824.
Jackson had won a plurality of the popular and electoral votes.
But because he lacked a majority of the electoral votes, the House of Representatives had todecide the election among the three candidates with the highest number of electoral votes.
When Henry Clay, the candidate who had come in fourth, swung his supportto Adams, Adams won the election.
Polk, with his firm belief in democratic rule, held that the election of Adams was a violation of the people's will.
In his first speech before Congress he called for an end tothe existing electoral system and for a constitutional amendment giving the people the right to elect the president by direct popular vote.
On all issues, Polk followed the Jacksonian line.
He opposed the high protective tariff (tax on imports), high land prices, the national bank, paper money, and thefinancing of internal improvements such as roads, bridges, and canals with federal funds.
Like Jefferson, whose philosophy the Jacksonians believed they followed, Polkplaced his trust in an agrarian country and opposed all forces that strengthened the commercial and financial interests.
In 1828 Jackson was elected president, and Polk became the leader of the administration's bloc in the House.
As such he took a leading part in Jackson's battles againstfederal financing of internal improvements, the protective tariff, and South Carolina's threat to nullify federal laws within its borders ( see nullification).
When Jackson sought to end the use of a national bank as a depository for U.S.
Treasury funds, many Jacksonians defected to the Whig Party because they thought his policy wasfiscally unsound.
Polk, however, remained faithful and drew up the minority report that portrayed the bank as a tool of vested financial interests.
Polk's handling of theissue in Congress contributed to the popular support given Jackson when he vetoed a bill renewing the bank's charter and began placing federal funds in state, or “pet,”banks instead of the national bank.
C Speaker of the House
In 1835 the Jacksonians, who by now called themselves Democrats, elected Polk as presiding officer, or Speaker, of the House.
With the retirement of President Jacksonand the 1836 election to the presidency of his chosen successor, Vice President Martin Van Buren of New York, the Whig delegation in Congress grew stronger and morevocal.
Bitter at what they considered Jackson's unconstitutional use of executive powers but unable to make a dent in his personal popularity, the Whigs took out theiranger on Polk and Van Buren.
Throughout his tenure as speaker, Polk was subject to constant insults and vituperation.
He was called a “menial,” a “slave,” and a“servile tool” of Jackson, as well as a “petty tyrant” and “a cancer on the body politic.” Polk bore this daily abuse with composure.
D Governor of Tennessee
Jackson's retirement was followed by a crippling economic downturn, the Panic of 1837, which many blamed on Jackson's fiscal policy.
That, and Jackson's absence frompublic life, had weakened his party in his home state of Tennessee.
In 1835 the Jacksonian Democratic Party had lost the governorship for the first time in the party'shistory.
Polk seemed to be the only potential candidate who could win it back for them.
Consequently, Polk resigned from Congress and in 1839 ran for governor ofTennessee.
After a vigorous campaign, in which he spoke throughout the state, he was elected.
As governor, Polk spent much of his time revitalizing the Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, his victory in 1839 had greatly impressed Democratic leaders throughout thenation, and even though he lost the elections for governor in 1841 and 1843, he had become a national figure and a potential candidate for the vice presidency in 1844.
E Election of 1844
Former President Martin Van Buren was the leading contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1844.
However, because he opposed annexation of theRepublic of Texas, which had recently seceded from Mexico, he had little support in the South and West.
The Democratic convention of 1844 was held in Baltimore,Maryland.
After seven ballots it was clear that Van Buren could not win the two-thirds majority needed for nomination.
On the eighth ballot, Polk was brought forward asa compromise candidate whom all segments of the party could support.
He was unanimously nominated on the ninth ballot and became the first so-called dark horse, orlittle-known candidate, to win a presidential nomination.
The Whigs nominated Henry Clay.
The primary issue in the campaign was Western expansion.
Clay hedged on the question of Texas, while Polk came out forcefully forthe annexation of Texas and the acquisition of Oregon from Great Britain.
The Democratic campaign slogan became “54-40 or fight!” It meant that Polk was willing tofight Britain for the possession of Oregon north to the 54°40' parallel.
This would have given the United States possession of what is now British Columbia northward tothe southern tip of Alaska.
The belief in manifest destiny was almost a religion in the West, and Polk's bold talk of expansion enabled him to win all the Western statesexcept Ohio and Tennessee.
However, Polk won the election only because a third candidate, James G.
Birney of the antislavery Liberty Party, took enough votes awayfrom Clay in New York to give Polk the state.
In all, Polk had 170 electoral votes, Clay 105.
In the popular voting, Polk received 1,337,243 votes and Clay 1,299,062votes.
George Mifflin Dallas of Pennsylvania was elected vice president.
IV PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Shortly after his inauguration, President Polk told his secretary of the navy, George Bancroft, that the four objectives of his administration would be the reduction oftariffs, the reestablishment of an independent treasury, the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute with Britain, and the acquisition of California from Mexico.
Heachieved all four goals.
A The Walker Tariff
The Democratic Party was traditionally opposed to the protective tariff that benefited manufacturers at the expense of Southern cotton planters, who imported most oftheir tools and supplies.
The Whigs favored a policy of protection and tried to keep the tariff high.
Now Polk, with his able secretary of the treasury, Robert J.
Walker ofMississippi, drew up a new tariff schedule for revenue only, with “protection incident but not the object.” Minimum duties were placed on essential items, with higherrates on luxuries.
To win support from the West, the administration argued that a low tariff would enable Western farmers to sell their surplus grain abroad.
This was anew argument, but it carried the day, and the Walker tariff was passed.
Besides lowering tariff rates in the United States, it encouraged the movement for free trade(the exchange of goods between countries with no tariffs) in Britain.
The tariff was also influential in causing Britain to repeal its corn laws, which restricted grainimports.
Thus, Western farmers were able to export grain to Britain for the first time.
B Independent Treasury Act
Ever since Andrew Jackson had destroyed the national bank, Democrats had been seeking to establish a financial system, based on hard money, that would discouragepaper credit and speculation.
In 1840, President Van Buren succeeded in establishing the Independent Treasury System, a system of public depositories for storing anddispersing federal currency.
However, the Whigs had continued to press for the reestablishment of a national bank.
In 1841 they had a majority in Congress and, as afirst step, succeeded in terminating the Independent Treasury System.
They did not accomplish the second step—chartering a bank—because President John Tyler usedhis veto to prevent it.
Then, when Polk was elected president, enough Democrats were swept in with him to dominate Congress.
Polk was able, in 1846, to revive the.
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